After the knight shift, Sir Alastair Cook believes England could hit the magic 500 mark at the World Cup.

To launch the tournament's 100-day countdown in Trafalgar Square, the former St Paul's choirboy held court under cobalt blue skies and delivered the forecast for Eoin Morgan's one-day side in high summer: Reign in all arias.

Although Cook won a record 161 England Test caps, he never played at a World Cup – an incongruous kink in his international record.

In 2011, after stockpiling 766 runs on Ashes duty in Australia, he found himself surplus to requirements, running in the 'Triangle' – a wooded assault course near mentor Graham Gooch's home.

Instead of opening the batting at the World Cup, Cook was flogging himself in pitch darkness at 6am, carrying bricks in a rucksack as Gooch followed on his bike, while England fell woefully short in Sri Lanka.

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And four years ago, Cook was axed as one-day captain just seven weeks before the tournament, with Morgan handed a hospital pass to preside over another dismal blow-out.

But Lord Nelson, gazing down from his vantage point, would agree that this time the signs are all positive and England expects their one-day record total (481-6 against Australia at Trent Bridge last year) to come under threat.

Cook said: “I'm not envious of the one-day team's firepower now: I'm watching with pride that we're setting the trends, pushing the boundaries and I'm watching the people I played with doing it.

“They have taken the limits out of one-day cricket with an attitude that 'We can get 500' and I love it.

“Regrets? I had my chance leading up to 2015, but I didn't play very well personally and we didn't play very well as a team. That was the real disappointment.

“I don't think it was right to make such a big decision just before the World Cup, but I can understand why the selectors made that call.

Cook played his last ODI in December 2014 (Image: Getty Images,)

“Maybe it was the best thing for the team in the long run that Eoin took over when he did, and the way he's taken that team forward has been great to watch.

“In my time as captain, the big opportunity we missed was the 2013 Champions Trophy final [which England lost by five runs] because we were playing brilliant one-day cricket at the time.

“It was just a shame that, on the day, it was shortened by rain to a 20-over game because with me and Trotty (Jonathan Trott) in the top three, we probably wouldn't have been in England's T20 side.”

Before the World Cup, English cricket's newest knight of the realm will be padding up for the start of a new county season with Essex.

How will he react if he takes guard and the slip cordon starts chirping irreverent one-liners to His Lordship?